donderdag 20 november 2014

Hippone6

6.Prehistory:

‘Whether
this town was a new foundation, or merely a re-foundation of an earlier Libyan
settlement, is not known, but its suitability for defence, its harbour, and its
location are in themselves sufficient to account for its account for its
foundation and long-continued existence.’ [Holmes van Mater Dennis,
1970].

There must
have been reasons why it took so long before Hippo Regius came to live in
historical records. One of them could be the unhealthy situation of the place.
‘Gsell, who apparently bases his opinion on two passages from St.Augustine,
believes that the place was insalubrious.’ [Holmes van Mater Dennis,
1970].

Even in the
later Numidian period in the time of Micipsa Numidia was hit by a plague
outbreak in which 80.000 people died. Especially Auzia and Hippo suffered from
fevers.

Another
reason can be the role of Euboeans. Aubet named it “The Euboean” connection.

‘In any
case, Phoenician expansion towards the west seems to be connected in some way
with Euboean activity, and there may well have been common interests and
enterprises, at least in the years 760-700 BC. This symbiosis between the
Phoenicians and the Euboeans is no novelty to us since we had already noticed a
similar phenomenon in the eastern Mediterranean.
Indeed, at the end of the 9thcentury BC Phoenicians and Euboeans were developing joint trading
acticities in Al Mina and Tell Sukas.’ [M.E.Aubet, Phoenicians of the
west, p.244.]

In the west
we find late geometric Greek pottery in the tophet of Carthage
(c.760 BC) and the same in Pithecoussai with its export-harbour Cumae. In the middle of
the 7th century BC there is an Euboean urn in the tophet of Sulky
and an imitation proto-Corinthian vase in a tomb at Almunecar. In the other
direction we find Phoenician ceramics and inscriptions and metal fibula in Ischia (Pithecoussai) at the end of the 8th
century BC.

In line
with this statement is the finding of the earliest archaeological proof of an
Attic crater with a nice black glaze in Hippo. Here we see the peculiar fact,
that archaeology is in front of classical contributions!